Sharing pretzels with Mohammad Khatami

By Rami G. Khouri

The confrontation between Iran and many Western and Middle Eastern countries reflects a number of contentious issues that are unlikely to be resolved soon, or to be resolved at all by American or Israeli military attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities. It is striking how little contact there is between Americans and Iranians, let alone Israelis and Iranians. Much of what we hear about Iran is filtered through usually biased Western media.

So it was a real treat for me earlier this week to listen to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami speak at a conference I attended in Oslo, Norway, before sitting down with him and some colleagues after his talk to share some pretzels, orange juice and a good conversation.

Khatami is important for several reasons: his sensible and humane ideas, his reformist Islamist ideology, and his determination to engage with the West and the world in a frank and mutually beneficial dialogue. Most importantly, though, he is not a lone voice. He was twice elected president of Iran (1997-2005) and, according to Iranians who closely follow public opinion trends within the country, he still enjoys significant support among the public.

My occasion to chat with him was the sixth Oslo Forum Network of Mediators, sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue. This annual gathering brings together several dozen of the world's most experienced mediators and conflict resolution practitioners, for off-the-record discussions on the craft and politics of making peace and resolving conflicts.

Khatami was an appropriate guest, both for his efforts to promote reconciliation and for his country's stressful relations with many in the West. While he is unlikely to run for president again - the dominant ruling elite in Tehran would almost certainly prevent that from happening - his views deserve wider attention, because they offer important insights into sentiments among many, perhaps most, ordinary Iranians.

He spends much of his time these days fulfilling his duties as founder and president of the Foundation for Dialogue among Civilizations, and also serves on the United Nation Secretary General's High Level Group for Alliance of Civilizations. Both of these lofty groups focus their work on improving relations between Islamic and Western societies.

His main message is about the importance of dialogue - which he distinguishes from debate and negotiations - as a means of improving mutual understanding. Here's where it starts to get slightly mushy - but remember, this is the twice-elected president of Iran - when he says that "the basis of dialogue is kindness and fellowship."

The relationship between some Western powers and the Islamic region is badly distorted and a cause of tension and conflict, Khatami believes, because of two unfortunate phenomena: The policies of some leading Western powers are characterized by hegemony, double standards and violence, while much of the Islamic world suffers from humiliation, backwardness and dictatorship, making peace an impossibility.

Two things are necessary to overcome this confrontational situation, Khatami suggests: a feeling of justice instead of fear and subjugation, and a culture of understanding instead of hostility. The West must see the Islamic East as a partner, not an adversary, with the security of both enjoying equal weight. Dialogue and negotiations should start without preconditions, he feels, and should reflect several common factors.

The East and West have common worries about insecurity in their worlds, and both can share the common goal of a world of peace, without aggression. If such common factors can be activated, Khatami suggests, and both sides are prepared to talk to one another on the basis of mutual respect, rather than domination, we could define a common road map to achieve democracy, peace and security.

"Democracy must serve the interests of its own people, not foreign powers," he adds, noting that it needs time to take root. "The West needed 400 years to establish democratic societies, so we should not expect Islamic societies to have instant democracy after an election or two."

Khatami is a charmer and a dreamer, but that is not why we should listen to his words carefully and ponder his challenges seriously. We should do that because his views may reflect the sentiments of a majority of Iranians. Yet those majority sentiments do not drive Iranian government policies these days, which are defined, rather, by the more hard-line policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

If most Iranians share Khatami's penchant to "let the voice of wisdom, democracy and justice in Islamic societies be heard in freedom," it would seem worth the effort for the major Western and Arab powers to craft foreign policies that test those sentiments and let them emerge. Foreign powers and the Iranian people seem to suffer from the opposite reality: pressures, sanctions and threats against Iran allow the hard-line leadership to consolidate its power, and to silence the majority's more benign tendencies.


*Published on June 28, 2008 in Lebanon's THE DAILY STAR, where Rami G. Khouri is published twice-weekly.

Iran ex-president hopes US vote will spur ‘fundamental change'

OSLO - AFP - Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami on Tuesday accused Washington of creating a more aggressive world, saying he hoped the upcoming US election would bring about fundamental political change.

"Unfortunately the policies (of the United States) have led to more aggression, to insecurity, lack of stability and more violence in the world," Khatami said in Oslo, where he was taking part in a seminar aimed at promoting dialogue between the West and Islam.

He said he hoped the US presidential election in November would lead to "a strategic change and also a fundamental change."

"The United States has to realise that they cannot resolve all problems through aggression and force," Khatami said.

"And it has to realise that it's not a big brother anymore. It is a very powerful country but still it is one of the many countries of the world," he added.

Khatami, 64, also hinted he might be tempted back onto the political stage after plunging critics of the Iranian regime into confusion and despair in April with a remark that he was "in retirement."

"Unfortunately, in the political sphere there is no retirement ... When we can be active, we will be active," said the former president, who is widely believed to be the only reform figure capable of wresting the presidency from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 polls.

Concerning "what will happen in the future, we will have to wait and see what the circumstances and the conditions will be," he said.

Peace mediators meet in Oslo

Norway Post: Conflict mediators from all over the world will again meet at the annual Oslo Forum to exchange experience at Losby Manor outside Oslo from 24 to 26 June. (Photo: Minister of International Development Erik Solheim)

This year’s peace mediators’ retreat will focus on dialogue and new opportunities for and perspectives on negotiations. It will be opened by Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim.
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and State Secretaries Raymond Johansen and Haaken A. Gudbrandsen will attends parts of the retreat.

There will be around 100 participants, including Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran, Jonathan Powell, former Chief of Staff to Tony Blair, Gareth Evans, President of the International Crisis Group, Lord Malloch Brown, British Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, and Pampha Bhusal, Maoist and Government Minister in Nepal.

Oslo Forum has taken place every year since 2003. It brings together peace mediators and key personnel from peace processes all over the world, including the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Somalia.

The aim of the Forum is to provide an opportunity for sharing practical experience of mediation between conflicting parties, and to improve the international community’s ability to deal with armed conflict.

The retreat is an important element in Norway’s efforts to systematise and professionalise international peace process efforts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranges the retreat in cooperation with the Geneva-based organisation Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

Khatami ponders run against Ahmadinejad for presidency

Tehran - Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami is considering opposing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in next year's presidential elections, Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

The 64-year-old Khatami was president from 1997 to 2005 and initiated the reform wave in the country under the motto "dialogue among civilizations."

His vision of an Islamic democracy however failed due to resistance by influential conservative clergy, especially in the judiciary, and eventually led to the presidency of Ahmadinejad in June 2005.

Khatami, a strong opponent of the current president, has formed a coalition with the faction close to ex-president Akbar Hashemi- Rafsanjani, which however lost last March's parliamentary elections to conservatives.

Many Iranian observers consider Khatami and parliament speaker Ali Larijani as the only realistic options who would have chances to block Ahmadinejad's re-election.

Larijani, who also was chief nuclear negotiator until last October, currently leads the conservative majority in the parliament which is both against Khatami's reformist faction and Ahmadinejad's policies.